These are the nominees for the “Green Business Award”
Media release, Lucerne, 3 April 2023
The “Green Business Award” will be presented for the fifth time in September 2023, with 28 sustainable and at the same time economically successful companies nominated. Among them are a compostable plastic, a vegan investment platform and a process that tracks a product along the entire supply chain.
Every year, the “Green Business Award”, organised by “Green Business Switzerland”, honours innovative Swiss companies that combine economic success with ecological impact. Around 20 partner organisations, including the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, Swiss Recycling, NZZ Connect, Swiss Textiles and the WWF, nominated 28 companies for the award this year. The spectrum of nominees ranges from the lightest electric vehicle through sustainable children’s clothing to an online market for fair weekly shopping.
Unique evaluation process
The selection process for the “Green Business Award” is based on a multi-stage procedure. This makes the coveted award a meaningful indicator of success for sustainability. Starting with the nominated solutions, a preliminary jury awards the “Green Business Excellence” label to the five best solutions. These five companies will go on to present themselves with a pitch to the main jury chaired by former Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard. Finally, three of them will be selected to present themselves to a broad business audience at the Swiss Sustainability Forum on 12 and 13 September 2023. The winner chosen by the jury will also be announced there. Speaking about the relevance of the award, jury president Doris Leuthard says, “Switzerland needs the “Green Business Award” because changes begin with beacons that can be used as a guide”.
Sustainability is much more than an economic opportunity
“The winners of the past four awards are still making a big impact in their industry”, says Dr Dominik Isler, Director ad interim of Green Business Switzerland. “The inspiring success stories of our alumni show that sustainability today not only offers an economic opportunity but is also essential for credibility and entrepreneurial success.” This year there is a clear trend towards solutions in the energy sector, with the nominees using renewable energies and digitalization to create ways to overcome the challenges in energy supply. Intelligent systems and algorithms make it possible, for example, to record people’s habits and thus adjust energy consumption. Jury president Doris Leuthard is convinced that “The diverse business models in the energy sector confirm that crises strengthen innovation”. The circular economy is also booming. Says Dominik Isler, “As both a society and an economic system, we have to think about how we can significantly reduce our consumption of resources. The award proves how important it is to promote innovation in this field.”
Jury president Doris Leuthard explains why the Green Business Award is becoming increasingly important for Switzerland, “In the current economic situation, Switzerland needs innovative solutions to move forward and to overcome the diverse challenges it faces.”
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«Green Business Award»
Since 2019, the "Green Business Award" has annually honoured the most innovative Swiss companies that combine economic success with ecological impact. In the first phase, around 20 partner organisations - consisting of environmental associations and business organisations - nominate up to three of the best solutions in their sector to compete for the award. A preliminary jury then awards the “Green Business Excellence” label to the five best solutions. These five companies go on to present themselves with a pitch to the main jury. The main jury, chaired by former Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, is made up of 15 personalities, including Bertrand Piccard (Solar Impulse), Roberto Cirillo (CEO of Swiss Post), Daniel Bloch (VRP & CEO of Camille Bloch) and business journalist Patrizia Laeri. Three of the five “Excellence Label” winners will be selected as finalists for the “Green Business Award” and one company will receive the coveted prize at the Swiss Sustainability Forum on 13 September 2023. Swiss Post supports the award as presenting partner and pioneer for sustainability in its industry. Mobiliar will also be supporting the award as a partner from 2023.
www.greenbusinessaward.ch
«Green Business Switzerland»
Green Business Switzerland focuses on the positive connection between business success and sustainable action. If we want to preserve our planet for future generations, business must be part of the solution. This requires a change in awareness and role models to guide decision-makers. Green Business Switzerland is committed to this with various formats. The forward-looking cooperation of key players from business and environmental protection is backed by the FOEN, economiesuisse, öbu, Pusch, the Swiss Environmental Foundation, Scienceindustries, Swissmem, Swiss Textiles and WWF Switzerland, among others.
www.greenbusiness.ch
Presenting Partner: «Swiss Post»
Swiss Post is the presenting partner of the Green Business Award. Swiss Post is active in the communications, logistics, retail finance and passenger transport markets. It contributes to the sustainable development of Switzerland by acting as a role model for CO2 efficiency and contributing to the country’s climate goals. Swiss Post provides customer solutions in a sustainable, resource-conserving and socially responsible manner.
The nominees at a glance (alphabetical listing)
| Company | Solution | Short description Product |
| Arbofino AG | Within the scope of the Teak Impact Investment concept, investors aim to achieve a financial return on selling timber while simultaneously using some of the profits to fund nature conservation projects in Ecuador. For every hectare of teak, half a hectare of nature reserve is created. | |
| Beyond Animal S.A. | Beyond Animal is the first vegan investment platform. It brings companies and investors together, creates an ecosystem and offers advisory services and webinars. | |
| BKW Energie AG Power Grid | How can public parking spaces be converted into charging stations cost-efficiently? The Mobi-Charge plug & play charging station makes it possible. It is used as a test and location evaluation for municipalities, companies or at events. | |
| CALIDA AG | With the 100% Nature collection, Calida presents an innovation in the field of textile sustainability. All materials in the collection are produced in a closed, particularly resource-saving cycle or grown using certified organic methods and are Cradle to Cradle certified. | |
| CEBS AG | Kooky provides an infrastructure and platform for the return of reusable food packaging. This cuts down on single-use packaging, thus reducing waste and CO2. | |
| CleanGreens Solutions SA | Greenova is a cultivation system for leafy vegetables and herbs. It provides clean, repeatable, predictable yields that are significantly higher than any other growing technique. Greenova requires 96% less water than conventional cultivation and is free from pesticides and herbicides. | |
| Droople | Droople is a smart water platform that monitors water resources offline, forecasts maintenance and integrates water and energy efficiency practices. It can be used by water treatment manufacturers, hospitality service providers and facility managers. | |
| ECCO2 Solutions AG | Building Intelligence is a solution that reduces the energy consumption of buildings. It uses artificial intelligence to control heating and thus cut CO2 emissions. In addition, Building Intelligence facilitates ESG reporting and increases property value. | |
| Fagus suisse SA | The sturdy Swiss construction timber made by Fagus suisse combines high strength with natural aesthetics and the ecological advantages of wood. The construction timber can be used to realise filigree constructions, extended spans and slender supports in a versatile way. | |
| Farmy AG | Farmy offers hand-picked products from more than 1,200 producers. The logistics concept avoids the intermediate storage of fresh products, allowing Farmy to make fresh, plannable food deliveries directly to the customer’s door without any waste. | |
| Haelixa | Haelixa can trace the origin of different raw materials. The process labels the DNA of a raw material, allowing a product to be traced along the entire supply chain. Haelixa is used for textiles, gold and diamonds, for example. | |
| HOLCIM | Hydromedia is a water management system that absorbs rainwater from streets, parking areas, driveways and pavements, reducing the risk of flooding. Its high drainage capacity helps combat the formation of urban heat islands by lowering surface temperatures and increasing humidity. | |
| Immark AG Aarwangen | Immark’s recycling plant makes it possible to return used refrigeration equipment to the recycling loop in a two-stage process, thus rendering environmentally hazardous propellants harmless. | |
| Innergia SA | Solution Innergia enables the public sector to finance and realise projects to implement the energy transition. Infrasructure financing is provided by Swiss pension funds, which means that no debt is incurred. | |
| IS SaveEnergy AG | The SaveEnergy flue gas condensation process increases the heat efficiency of wood-fired heating and power plants by 15-50 %. The heat is extracted from the flue gas via injected process water. The total sum of all water droplet surfaces acts as the heat exchanger. The SaveEnergy heat exchanger cannot become dirty or corroded. | |
| Kromatix | Kromatix is a coloured glass for photovoltaic panels that is optimised for solar energy applications. Atomic deposition transforms solar glass into coloured glass that is durable and immune to UV degradation. | |
| LEDCity AG | LEDCity is developing a lighting system that saves an average of 90 % energy compared to conventional light sources. This is made possible by sensors that automatically adjust light levels to the actual light duration and intensity required. | |
| Micro Mobility Systems AG | Microlino is a light electric vehicle with room for two people, a range of up to 230 km and a maximum speed of 90 km/h. It can be charged at any household socket in four hours and weighs just under 500 kg, including the battery. It consumes only about a third of the energy per 100 kilometres used by a conventional e-car and saves more than half of the CO2 emissions during production. | |
| Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund | Together with experts, Migros has developed a sustainability scale. With 1 to 5 stars, M-Check rates Migros’ own brands in terms of climate compatibility, animal welfare and environmentally friendly packaging. | |
| Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund | Migros has introduced the Migros plastic collection bag and new return points to make it easier for the public to recycle plastic waste at home. The full bags are returned to a Migros branch. | |
| namuk Holding AG | Namuk is the first Swiss children’s outdoor label to use robust materials to manufacture high-quality, technical functional clothing for children. The clothing focuses on longevity, durability, design and innovation. | |
| NewGreenTec Int. AG | PowerPyramid and EnergyTower enable sustainable power supply from the wind and sun. The units combine innovative, dual vertical axis wind turbines with advanced control, inverters and photovoltaics. Installation costs are low, and the units can be placed on or next to buildings with a very small footprint. This means that energy can also be generated at night and in the winter. | |
| SmartHelio | SmartHelio is a software product that enables solar companies to improve their performance by up to 10%. It uses algorithms and data analytics to identify problems in a solar system, providing real-time insights and recommendations for immediate action to optimize the system. | |
| Sulzer Chemtech | Sulzer Chemtech’s technology enables the production of polylactic acid (PLA). It is used to manufacture a high-quality bioplastic that is 100 % recyclable and bio-compostable. The plastic is suitable for a wide range of applications (e.g. food packaging, fabrics and for 3D printing). | |
| Swissframe AG | Energy-efficient and resource-saving building technology for the future | Swissframe’s decentralised hot water supply for bathrooms is powered by exhaust air and solar electricity. The product includes comfort ventilation with heat recovery and a prefabricated sanitary unit. This enables energy savings of around 70 %. |
| Tree Global SA | Tree Global implements projects for large-scale afforestation of forest landscapes financed by carbon credits. The projects are mainly implemented in forests with high carbon potential, for example in Africa, Latin America or sub-Saharan Africa. | |
| Urbio SA | Urbio is a software product that helps utilities, energy consultants and real estate companies prioritise their energy projects and automate the planning of efficient systems for the heating, cooling and electrifying of buildings. | |
| viboo AG | PCaaS is a cloud service that learns the thermal behaviour of a building within one to two weeks. With the help of intelligent thermostats, it predicts the temperature development of a building for the next few hours. The service also takes factors such as forecast weather conditions and the occupants’ preferences into account. |
